Crystal Palace vs Cardiff: expect a nervy contest at Selhurst Park
Published:The first leg of the first Carling Cup semi-final takes place in south London this Tuesday evening and everything is set for Crystal Palace’s game with Cardiff to be a tight affair.
Malky Mackay rested a host of first team players for Cardiff’s 4-2 FA Cup defeat against West Bromwich Albion at the weekend and Crystal Palace followed suit by making seven changes from the side that ran out in their last league game.
The Eagles also crashed out in a 1-0 defeat against Derby but, with two well-rested teams within touching distance of Wembley, this should be an intriguing encounter…
Match odds
There’s very little to choose between these two teams heading into this game with Cardiff 8/5 to bag the win and Palace out at 13/8 to head into the second leg with an advantage.
Over their past six games, Cardiff have the best away record in the league and have lost just two of their previous 19 Championship away games.
With Palace boasting the second best home defence in the league this has all the makings of a tight game and the 9/4 offered for the draw looks incredibly tempting – especially as three of Cardiff’s five Carling Cup games this season were level after 90 minutes.
Goal markets
Palace have found goals hard to come by in the Championship and have the fourth worst home attack in the division.
However, they have scored two goals in each of their four Carling Cup home games this season and can be backed at 15/8 to score two to three goals in this game.
Meanwhile, Cardiff’s Kenny Miller has scored two in his last two games and he can be backed at 11/2 to score the first goal in this clash.
